We carried out a review of the data available to us about Holmhurst on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Holmhurst, you can give feedback on this service.
Holmhurst is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to seven people with support needs related to their mental health. The service can support up to nine people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were happy with the support they received and felt safe living at Holmhurst. Staff knew what to do to keep people safe and were confident any concerns would be taken seriously.
Risks to people’s well-being and safety were assessed, recorded and kept up to date. Staff supported people to manage these risks effectively. People received support to take their medicines safely.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People were supported to develop care plans that were specific to them. These plans were regularly reviewed with people to keep them up to date.
Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity.
People were supported to maintain a good diet and access the health services they needed.
The registered manager provided good support for staff to be able to do their job effectively. The provider’s quality assurance processes were effective and resulted in improvements to the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 28 March 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
The inspection took place on 24 January 2017. This was an unannounced inspection and the home's first rated inspection. A registered manager was in post when we inspected the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was present and approachable throughout our inspection.
The administration and recording of medicines was being safely managed, however the storage of medicines was not always safe. One person who was self-administering had no lockable facility in their room to store their medicines safely. We saw that a medicines fridge was not in place for people that may require their medicines to be kept at a refrigerated temperature. The registered manager rectified this during the inspection and put one in place.
The home employed sufficient levels of staff to support people and meet their needs. During our inspection we saw staff were visible to support people; however at times opportunities to interact with people were not always taken up, leading some people to walk from room to room without being offered the choice to engage. When staff were interacting with people they did so in respectful ways and showed good understanding of people’s needs.
The provider had systems in place to manage risk and protect people from abuse. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and whistle-blowing procedures. They also knew how to report concerns and had confidence in the manager that these would be fully investigated to ensure people were protected.
During our inspection records showed that some staff’s training had expired which needed renewing and this had not yet been arranged. New staff had completed an induction programme before working on their own and told us they were well supported and received regular one to one meetings with their manager.
We saw that consent had not been recorded for staff to take responsibility for two people’s cigarettes. Staff kept these in the office so they could monitor the amount people smoked and ensure people did not smoke in the home and cause a fire risk.
People and their families praised the staff and registered manager for the kindness and the support given to people and families alike. Comments included “I am very happy about the care, the staff all need to be commended” and “The staff are caring, they work as a team, there’s a lot of laughter, it’s a lovely atmosphere they care very much”. The care records demonstrated that people’s care needs had been assessed and considered their emotional, health and social care needs.
People were able to choose what activities they took part in and suggest other activities they would like to complete. In addition to group activities people were able to maintain hobbies and interests and staff provided support as required.
People, their relatives, staff and health professionals spoke positively about the improvements the registered manager had made to the service commenting “When the manager took over she’s done so much work here, there has been a big difference with her coming in”, “I get the impression that since the new manager, things have significantly improved” and “The manager has done very well in what she’s achieved”.